The Affinity Blog

As leaders in IT consulting, Affinity Technology Partners of Nashville, TN covers everything from business process outsourcing, to computer support, best practices, info, tips, and more, right here on our blog.

Affinity is pleased to welcome Henk Crafford aboard as Systems Administrator. Henk will join Affinity’s Support Team, working to partner with clients to ensure the smooth operation and security of their technology systems.

Affinity is pleased to announce the promotion of John Bannister to Design Desk Specialist. In this new position, John will design systems and strategies to improve the security and efficiency of clients’ technology infrastructures.

This means that if you have computers running Windows 7 in your business, you will need to take action before the end of support date. To help you understand the implications of this change for your business, and to jumpstart your planning, here’s a list of frequently asked questions about the end of support for Windows 7.

A lost or stolen corporate device is a major threat to a company’s data security and privacy. It is critical to develop an IT strategy that protects sensitive organizational information even if this worst case scenario occurs.

Every week, new cyber security tools come on the market for small and mid-sized businesses. Tools that previously were only imaginable for government entities and the largest enterprises are now priced at a level at which most businesses can use them to keep their data—and their customers’ data—safe.

Should your business take advantage of these tools? Absolutely. From advanced threat detection to penetration testing and patch automation, these tools can make a huge impact on your business’s security—and your ability to sleep at night.

It’s critical, though, to note that cyber security is not a problem that can be solved by tools alone, or even by the right set of tools, in one fell swoop. True cyber security—security that grows and adapts with your business—can only be achieved with an ongoing process of constantly evaluating the risks your business faces and the measures you are taking to mitigate those risks.

Retail industry technology is evolving at an extraordinary rate. More and more, retailers are turning to outsourced IT to maintain their competitive edge in the industry.

To the point: over the last 6 months, theinternet has seen a rash of blackmail spam schemes. The most common of these involve emails suggesting that the sender, a hacker, has hijacked the recipient’s computer and recorded evidence of the recipient viewing pornography. The sender threatens to send that evidence to the recipient’s contact list—unless the recipient sends a Bitcoin payment to a provided address.

So, what should you do if you receive one of these emails? Read on to find out

Anyone who has worked in the foodservice industry knows how cutthroat it can be. Quality outsourced IT solutions that enhance your business and streamline your operations are critical in order to maintain an edge over the ever-evolving competition.

Unfortunately, email remains one of the most effective methods of attack for cybercriminals. That’s why, as a trusted managed services provider, we want to keep both our clients and the community at large up to date on the latest spam schemes to crop up. Awareness is half the battle in cyber security, and we want to do our part to spread it.

To the point: over the last 6 months, theinternet has seen a rash of blackmail spam schemes. The most common of these involve emails suggesting that the sender, a hacker, has hijacked the recipient’s computer and recorded evidence of the recipient viewing pornography. The sender threatens to send that evidence to the recipient’s contact list—unless the recipient sends a Bitcoin payment to a provided address.

So, what should you do if you receive one of these emails? Read on to find out

A slow wi-fi connection will have a severe negative impact on your ROI. This damaging network downtime can be minimised via thorough and strategic IT planning. Affinity Technology Partners can evaluate and improve your workforce uptime today.

Outsourcing your IT services to Affinity Technology Partners is a good way to make sure you’ve got everything you need for the seamless and successful operation of your technology company.

To the point: over the last 6 months, theinternet has seen a rash of blackmail spam schemes. The most common of these involve emails suggesting that the sender, a hacker, has hijacked the recipient’s computer and recorded evidence of the recipient viewing pornography. The sender threatens to send that evidence to the recipient’s contact list—unless the recipient sends a Bitcoin payment to a provided address.

So, what should you do if you receive one of these emails? Read on to find out

The EU Data Protection Directive is a law implemented by the European Union to protect the privacy of EU citizens’ data. The highly professional tech consultants at Affinity Technology Partners are trained in helping businesses comply with this directive.

We’ve all experienced lost productivity due to technical difficulties. Slow-loading computers, bogged-down internet connections, printer issues, and dropped phone calls can turn what should be quick, everyday tasks into long, painful ones.

These issues are frustrating for everyone. But tuned-in business owners know that they’re not just frustrating; they’re costly. Lost productivity translates into fewer sales, less production, longer lead times on key data preparation—all of which ultimately mean a reduction in revenue and profits.

The natural question for business owners, then, is how much productivity—and how much profitability—is your company losing?

A business’s data is its most important asset. To protect it, companies hire IT services providers to put up firewalls, encrypt passwords, maintain anti-virus software, backup data, and more. It takes the most advanced hacker to break through these barriers outright. However, there are other ways to gain access to your data that bypass these obstacles. Some scammers use human psychology to dig their way in. The technology these people use is low tech, but the strategy is effective. Businesses should be aware of this type of security threat as well and do everything possible to guard against it.

Today, when we want to learn more about a company, browse for products, or find a place to eat, just about every single one of us with internet access starts with an online search. These search engines are powered by self-improving algorithms that make it easier to find exactly what we’re looking for. Many businesses understand this trend of using technology to get answers and have begun incorporating similar tools right on their homepage.

In the not-so-distant past, technology companies such as Apple and Microsoft offered significantly different experiences for their consumers. These differences resulted in a schism, where people swore by one software over another almost religiously. While this debate still goes on today, it’s been greatly diminished for several reasons.

To help us carry this practice with us into our daily work managing, supporting, maintaining, and strategizing our client’s IT, our owners, Sean and Betsy Wright, decided to boil the essence of our mission and vision down into a single core values statement.

At Affinity, we believe that being the best managed services provider for businesses in the Greater Nashville area means striving toward a mission and vision that helps us focus on serving the best interests of our clients and keeping our team excited about their work. At every team meeting, we begin by reading every bullet point in our mission and vision, and discussing ways we have succeeded in—or could do better at—living up to them.

To help us carry this practice with us into our daily work managing, supporting, maintaining, and strategizing our client’s IT, our owners, Sean and Betsy Wright, decided to boil the essence of our mission and vision down into a single core values statement.

Ransomware is malware that encrypts your data and holds it hostage for ransom money. Effectively managed IT services and network support can help prevent attacks and minimize damage in the case of infiltration.

It’s a paradox we all face on a daily basis, whether we realize it or not: introducing technology into our businesses’ workflows opens up vast opportunities—greater efficiency, remote working capabilities, seamless collaboration, actionable business data—while at the same time introducing new and terrifying risks not only to the security of our data but also the very viability of our businesses. For many business owners, knowing this makes it hard to sleep at night, or to fully enjoy a weekend off.

While on a job, construction-specific IT services must enable access to plans and other data from a secure network. This fast-paced environment calls for immediate support to mitigate issues wherever and whenever they occur.

As we close the book on 2018 and look ahead to 2019, we’re all curious about what trends might affect our businesses and our lives in the new year. And it’s hard to think of an industry more dynamic, with new trends from one moment to the next, than technology.

Still, as your managed services provider, we wanted to give you some sense of what kinds of developments we see coming down the pike in the new year. While no one has a crystal ball, our team of technology experts have some educated predictions about what we can expect in technology, from consumer devices to cybersecurity, in 2019. Our hope is that these predictions will be helpful to you in your business planning, as even developments in consumer tech might affect your customers in interesting ways. Plus, if you’re anything like us, thinking about what technology might make possible in the near future is just plain fun.

Insurance is all about offering protection and peace of mind. Insurance agencies across Nashville seek out the same sense of protection and peace of mind from their own managed IT services that they strive to give to their insurance clients. In order to remain competitive in today’s business climate, your insurance business needs an IT strategy that provides the space for secure, responsive, and seamless interaction with your clients. Secure IT solutions should be a priority for every insurance agency as clients expect communication around personal billing information and claim history data to be handled efficiently and securely.

As a company, Affinity’s vision includes becoming the best-in-class managed services provider in Greater Nashville for organizations intent on growth. That is a vision we can’t turn into reality without investment—investment in constantly honing our processes, in consistently finding and developing great team members, and in implementing the right technical tools to facilitate the most efficient technology service possible.

There are a variety of needs that quality outsourced IT providers should cater to when working with printers. Managed IT services can enhance your expertise, improve productivity, and keep printers up and running – all while being cost-effective in the long run.

The importance of confidentiality and security in a law office cannot be overstated, and your IT storage should reflect this. Outsourced managed IT services should help implement secure cloud storage systems that ensure their policies and SLAs address practical and ethical concerns for legal professionals.